Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 136: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when architectural planning for the permanent building project for a school (details supplied) in County Kildare will be completed; and when funding will be provided for the new school. [24048/04]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As recently announced, over the remainder of this school year a new school planning model involving published area development plans will be piloted in five areas. Included in the pilot scheme is the N4-M4 route from Leixlip to Kilcock and including Maynooth and Celbridge and from Enfield through to Kilbeggan. The plan for this particular area, which was published in June of this year, includes the school to which the Deputy refers.

The purpose of this new approach to school planning is to ensure that, in future, the provision of school infrastructure will be decided only after a transparent consultation process. In this regard, parents, trustees, sponsors of prospective new schools and all interested parties in an area will have the opportunity to have their voices heard in the process.

The Commission on School Accommodation is conducting the public engagement process on the draft N4-M4 plan under which all interested parties can make submissions. The process will culminate in the publication of a final development plan for the area against which all capital funding decisions will be made over the next decade. I am confident that this approach to school planning will provide a mechanism to ensure that capital funding is allocated in both a structured and a clearly identifiable manner into the future. Most importantly, all the stakeholders in education will have the opportunity of having their voices heard in the process.